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Qantas grounds A380 fleet after uncontained engine failure

A troubled Qantas Airbus A380 plane seen after an emergency landing on Nov. 4, 2010 at the Changi International airport in Singapore. (ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP/Getty Images) | Photo gallery

Qantas grounded its Airbus A380 fleet Thursday, after one of its double-decker airliners suffered an uncontained engine failure, shooting flames, ejecting large metal chunks and damaging a wing, before making a safe emergency landing in Singapore with 459 people aboard.

Rolls-Royce has recommended checks of its Trent 900 engines, which were designed exclusively for the A380, and are on 20 of the 37 A380s in service with Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa. Singapore Airlines said it would delay A380 flights, while a Lufthansa spokesman told Dow Jones that the airline would continue to fly its A380 aircraft as planned.

Trent 900s are on order for 64 A380s for existing A380 operators and British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Malaysia Airlines, China Southern and a private customer, according to Phil Abbott, editor and publisher of the industry report “Aircraft Engines.”

Other A380s use the Engine Alliance GP7200 engine.

The Trent 1000 is one of two engines Boeing is offering on its 787 Dreamliner. One of those engines suffered an uncontained failure on a test stand earlier this year.

Here’s a report from The Associated Press and a photo gallery. See below for statements from Qantas, Airbus and engine maker Rolls-Royce.

Qantas

A Qantas A380 aircraft operating QF32 from Singapore to Sydney experienced an engine issue soon after take off and returned to Singapore.

The aircraft had 440 passengers and 26 crew on board.

In line with procedure, the pilot sought priority clearance for its return to Singapore. The aircraft landed safely at 11.45 a.m. local time. …

There have been no injuries to any customers or crew.

The aircraft is currently de-boarding, and hotels are currently being organised for customers and crew.

We are currently planning for an aircraft to depart for Singapore to bring passengers back to Sydney tomorrow morning. Passengers on QF32 are being accommodated in Singapore.

We have commenced our own investigations as to how this incident occurred and have notified the ATSB. We will continue to work with them as they investigate the issue.

The flight crew carried out standard procedure for this situation.

Qantas has also indicated that, in accordance with its commitment to the highest safety standards, it has suspended scheduled A380 takeoffs until sufficient information has been obtained about what occurred on QF32.

Qantas Chief Executive Officer, Alan Joyce said Qantas would suspend A380 services until we are confident that Qantas safety requirements have been met.

Passengers on affected flights will be accommodated on alternative flights. Regular updates will be provided.

Rolls-Royce

Since Qantas QF32 suffered an engine failure and returned safely to Singapore Changi Airport we have been working closely with our customer and the authorities. In situations like these Rolls-Royce has well established processes to collect and understand information relating to the event and to determine suitable actions.

As always the safe operation of our products is our number one priority.

The in service fleet of Trent 900 engines is small and relatively new, and the group feels that it is prudent to recommend that a number of basic precautionary engine checks are performed. This process is now underway.

We will continue to work closely with our customers as the investigation moves forward. This is at a very early stage and it would be inappropriate to draw any conclusions at this time.

Airbus

Airbus confirms that an A380 aircraft operated by Qantas was involved in an in flight engine failure during flight QF32 from Singapore to Sydney, on 4th November 2010.

The aircraft, registration number VH-OQA, Manufacturer Serial Number 14, was delivered to Qantas on 19th September 2008 and had logged around 8165 flight hours and 831 flight cycles as of today. It is powered by four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines.

Preliminary reports indicate that the aircraft suffered an engine failure after take-off from Singapore. It performed an in flight turn back and landed safely back in Singapore.

There were 440 passengers and 26 crew on board. No injuries were reported.

In line with the ICAO Annex 13 international convention, Airbus will provide full technical assistance to the French BEA as well as to the Australian authorities who will be responsible for the accident investigation. A team of specialists from Airbus is being dispatched to Singapore.

Airbus will make further factual information available as soon as the details have been confirmed. However, the investigation remains the entire responsibility of the relevant authorities

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate..